Arne Slot names Liverpool star who won’t play vs Chelsea after Galatasaray loss | Football | Sport
Arne Slot has confirmed that Alisson will not play for Liverpool against Chelsea on Saturday, following an injury he sustained during the second half of their 1-0 Champions League defeat to Galatasaray. Liverpool‘s first-choice goalkeeper required medical attention after preventing Victor Osimhen from scoring a second goal just before the hour mark in Istanbul on Tuesday night.
He was subsequently replaced by Giorgi Mamardashvili, who is now in line to make his Premier League debut this weekend, in the 56th minute after Alisson appeared to suffer a muscle problem. Slot has already indicated that it is highly unlikely the Brazilian shot-stopper will be fit to play at the weekend when the Premier League champions head to London.
“It’s never positive if you go off like this, so you can be sure he is not playing on Saturday,” the Dutch coach said to Amazon Prime. “Let’s wait how long it’s going to take [to return]. He’s definitely not going to play on Saturday.”
Hugo Ekitike was also forced off for the Reds in the second half at RAMS Park but Slot didn’t offer much of an update on the striker other than to say that “hopefully he isn’t in a bad way.”
The 47-year-old added in his press conference of Alisson’s problem: “When he sprinted back, he felt something. I cannot tell you because I’m not a physician. But normally when a player sprints back and feels something and goes to the floor and doesn’t come back on to the pitch, I nine out of 10 times fear the worst – that he cannot continue. That’s what happened.
“That normally means he will not be able to play Saturday. I’m 99.9 per cent sure he won’t play.” On Ekitike, Slot said: “He felt something when he had to reach something for the ball. We were trying to force something. Hugo felt something. He said he couldn’t continue. Let’s see how he is for the weekend.”
Reflecting on the Liverpool performance, Slot added to Amazon Prime that he felt their general performance was improved. He said: “Again, disappointed. For me, this was a different performance on and off the ball [than Crystal Palace]. First half we played quite well and had a big chance to go 1-0 up.
“It is difficult to compare this situation to before. We are sometimes a bit outsmarted in situations like this and I cannot blame Dominik Szoboszlai for the situation. They make a 20 per cent penalty a 100 per cent penalty, which is very smart from them.
“We are not so far [off the level shown last season]. This is sometimes what the schedule can bring, Galatasaray is not a simple game. We now play Chelsea away, a difficult game. The margins are small and they were last season. For the second time in a row we are on the wrong side.
“I saw a lot of things in the first half, but the second half was much less. I don’t think in the second half there was a lot of playing time, their striker was on the floor four or five times. It was difficult to get momentum in the game.”
